Women and Flexible Work Practices
Current and past trends have seen dramatically changing demographics, in particular with women managing the responsibilities of both family and career. Sensitivity to the needs of the employee’s family has become an evolutionary strategy for workforce management over the past 20 or 30 years, and small, medium and even large businesses are responding to this ever growing trend. As thought-leaders shift their thinking to effectively manage people, they no longer manage only on a career cycle; they manage based on the ‘career-life-cycle’. In other words they acknowledge that staff members are struggling to achieve success in their professional lives while simultaneously dealing with the ever changing needs of their families which have a unique life cycle of their own based largely on family size and the ages of the children .
In the 1970’s and 80’s, increasing numbers of professional and non-professional women joined or re-entered the workforce. This led to the advent of onsite childcare at the employer location or subsidies which helped families provide childcare in the community while the parents worked. During this time, Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and Work/Life Programs came on the scene to help families deal with the many issues related to both parents working outside the home.
Businesses realized that illness, depression and work absence often came about as a direct result of working mothers struggling to find quality childcare. Work absence from illness and depression is a hard knock for the bottom line of any growing business, and it also compromised many women’s careers. EAP’s and Work/Life Programs therefore placed much of their focus on providing for the lack of ‘good quality’ childcare. In the 1980’s, company sponsored resources for family support became a popular employee benefit and retention strategy in the corporate sector.
The advancement of women in both business and professions has seen many changes over the years. One very important change we have seen is in flexibility in the workplace. Women were the catalysts in this change, as professionals and managers in the workplace, they had already become indispensible. But for most, a career did not stop their biological clock and many wished to have children. They also obviously struggled with their desires to enjoy a successful professional career. Corporations could therefore not ignore the fact that they wanted good staff members back, and were willing to be flexible with working hours and other variables, in order to accommodate this.
Flexibility regarding working hours, working from home, job sharing, and collaboration technologies leveraging the internet have essentially come about because of the evolution of the needs of working mothers. In the current era, this trend also accommodates many other parts of the population such as single parents (including dads), and working can be extremely flexible today. Corporations have seen that the cost in implementing creative solutions around flexible work practices is more than compensated for by the increased employee satisfaction and retention of highly valued talent. In fact, contracting freelancers – for example – who work from home, can save businesses a ton of money. Seriously speaking however, flexibility has completely taken over the old-fashioned 9 to 5, although sadly, some organizations still don’t understand the critical role that work flexibility plays in the hierarchy of employee preferences when choosing where they want to work Being known as a company which offers flexible work practices as a part of its culture is a huge advantage in attracting top talent as well as retaining them.
Previous to flexibility, women were compelled and tried to fit themselves into corporate and other structures, with often mediocre results . Now the corporate structure allows better options for women, single parents, and employees in general. It’s a win/win for all parties. The employer retains an experienced, high performing employee and the employee enjoys the income needed for their expanding family while contributing to a team and larger purpose that has meaning for them.
The thinking on family-work relationships in the USA, has been investigated in early research by such noted scholars as Rhona and Robert Rapoport, and Lotte Bailyn regarding women’s careers; Joe Pleck, James Levine and Rosabeth Moss Kanter regarding work-life and the family unit.
